The End of the World
by Coreinha
Summary: Aragorn get's hurt, and well, has a rather strange dream


Disclaimer; I don't own any of these characters or places, they belong to Tolkien. Fear not, they will be returned unharmed. This is just for fun, I'm not making any money from this.  
  
A/N: Another Challenge fic; I like doing these, lol! Here are the rules, in case you don't know or forgot or something. :)  
  
Must involve somebody riding a deer through a meadow of violets,  
  
trying to only step on cloud shadows, leading a rabbit on a leash  
  
Has to include the line "I'd find myself at the end of the world  
  
where the earth and the sky are one"  
  
This takes place during a hunting trip, but I'm too lazy to work that fact into the fic, lol. Elladan, Elrohir and Estel went hunting to fill the cellars, and get caught by some orcs, and well, I'll let you read what happens next *evil grin* Estel is about 19 in this fic, so he's still pretty young.  
  
ok, enough blah blah, on with the fic! ~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
"Estel!"  
  
Elladan's horrified cry echoed through the forest, as the arrow embedded itself in the young humans chest.  
  
Estel felt strangly detached, as he looked down at the black shaft protruding from his chest.  
  
Time seemed to freeze for a moment, as the horrified twins watched their youngest brother look down at the arrow, then back at them. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he slid limply off the horse into a heap on the ground.  
  
The instant Estel landed with a loud WHUMP, time unfroze, and a dozen orcs leapt out of the woods around them.  
  
Elladan and Elrohir fought fiercely, and even Estel's riderless horse dispatched a couple, in a matter of moments, they were surrounded by a dozen orc corpses.  
  
The twins remained motionless a moment, before turning to their fallen brother.  
  
"Oh Valar, please let him be alright." Elladans voice was almost panicked as he moved around Estel's motionless form.  
  
Elrohir repeated his twins brief prayer mentally as he knelt down beside Estel.  
  
Gently, he pressed his fingers to his brother's neck, and found a steady pulse there. He sat back on his heels a moment and sighed in relief.  
  
"He still has a pulse Elladan, but his breathing is a little rough."  
  
Elladan nodded, forcing back tears of relief.  
  
"The wound is grievous, torornin my brother, and Rivendell is two days journey from here. We will have to treat him here."  
  
Elladan sighed, "Very well, do you want to find the proper herbs, or shall I."  
  
Elrohir considered the arrow a moment. "We will probably need athelas to treat this wound, I have no doubt this arrow is poisoned, you're better at spotting it than I, so you look for herbs, I'll pull this arrow out, and clean the wound."  
  
Elladan nodded again, and moved quickly in search of the herbs they would need. He found the athelas quickly, and raced back to his brothers.  
  
He found Elrohir with one hand braced on Estel's chest, the other wrapped firmly around the arrow, gently working it loose. As he approached, the arrow slid out with a disgusting sucking sound. Elrohir examined the tip, a nasty black goo dripped from the tip.  
  
"Yrch spit! Poisoned!"  
  
He flung the arrow aside in a momentary fit of temper, as he quickly pressed his other hand down on the wound.  
  
Blood was dripping from the wound fairly slowly, Elrohir silently thanked all the Valar he could think of that no arteries had be torn, for that would have been almost certainly fatal for the young human.  
  
Elladan studied the area, "Elrohir, this is not a good place to treat him, it's going to rain, and there's not enough cover. Ada would have our heads if we saved from orc poison, only have him die of pneumonia."  
  
Elrohir managed a small smile, "Very well, I can see some caves about half a league away, let's move him there."  
  
Elrohir chewed up an athelas leaf, and pressed it into the wound, the juices from the leaves immediatly began counteracting the poison in Estel's system. Then he gently gathered up the teenager, and carried him in his arms, as though he were an infant. His head rested gently on Elrohir's shoulder, Elrohir found himself reminded of the many times Aragorn had crawled into bed with him as a child. His head had rested on Elrohir's shoulder in the same way then.  
  
'Ai Elbereth', he thought, 'when did he grow to be so tall?'  
  
He gently shifted his brother to a more comfortable position in his arms, and started jogging lightly to the caves Elladan had pointed out. The aforementioned followed close behind, leading the horses, who snorted and skittered nervously around the dead orcs.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
It didn't take them long to reach the caves, the twins chose one that was easy to reach and laid Estel on a bed made from their cloaks and the blankets from the horses packs with the care one would take with a tiny babe.  
  
Elrohir bound the wound closed, and sat vigil nearby, while Elladan got a fire started.  
  
The older twin set a pot to boil and sprinkled the athelas in. Soon, the entire cave was filled with the sweet, clean scent of the herb.  
  
"Valar, Elladan, look how pale he is!" Indeed, the young dunedain was almost ghostly white, and his breathing was shallow. Elrohir shook his head in confusion.  
  
"The athelas should be counteracting that poison by now. Why is his breathing so shallow?"  
  
Elladan frowned, this brought back a vague memory of a warrior who had died about 600 years ago of a similar wound. He pressed harder at the memory, and it suddenly came into focus. The warrior's lung had been punctured, and he'd suffocated before his party had gotten him back to Rivendell for treatment.  
  
In a sudden panic, he shoved his younger twin aside, and frantically pulled off the bandages on Estel's chest. Elrohir was staring at him as though he'd suddenly gone insane, when he laid his ear over the wound, and listened carefully, motioning for his twin to be silent when he started to ask what the heck he was up to.  
  
Elladan could hear a soft whistling noise everytime Estel drew a breath. Air was escaping from the wound. They had to stop it now, or the lung would collapse, and Estel would die.  
  
The fresh smell of athelas boiling was the first thing Aragorn was conscious of. He vaguely wondered who got hurt badly enough to need the powerful plant. As he rose further and further into consciousness, he became aware of a strange pain in the right side of his chest. The closer he got to being awake, the worse the pain got, and as he opened his eyes, he was suddenly vividly aware that it was getting harder and harder to breathe.  
  
He made a choking noise, and tried to sit up. Elladan's head popped into view, from where it had been lying on his chest. Aragorn stared at him in shock. "Wha.. wha...."  
  
He tried to gasp out the words, but they wouldn't come. Elladan laid a finger on his lips to silence him.  
  
"Your lung has been punctured by an arrow, Estel. We have to cauterize the wound, so no more air escapes your lungs."  
  
Elrohir and Estel stared at Elladan with almost identical expressions of horror. Elladan vaguely wondered if this was what it was like for other people when confronted with he and his twin.  
  
"I'll get some herbs to put you to sleep, Estel. Elrohir, stay put."  
  
Estel and Elrohir watched him with blank looks on their faces. He got up, his elven nature suddenly apparent in his unconscious grace. He moved quickly out of the cave, muttering to himself under his breath.  
  
"I thought I saw some around here..... Yes!"  
  
He picked a few sprigs of a small leafy plant at the base of a large boulder, and dashed back to the cave.  
  
Setting another pot on the fire, he brewed a tea from the plants, and all but forced it down a weakly protesting Aragorns throat. Elrohir smoothed the hair back from the humans face, while his twin set an elven dagger in the flames to heat up.  
  
Estel's eyes drifted closed as the tea quickly took effect. His last vague thoughts were of the magnificent snow white deer he had been taking aim at just before the arrow had struck him down.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~*~~~*~~~  
  
Estel found himself standing in a meadow, full of violets. Their heady aroma filled the air, he breathed it in deeply, thankful that it didn't hurt. He looked down when he felt a nudge at his feet. Sitting there, nibbling gently at his bare toes was the rabbit he'd shot for supper last night. It was wearing a collar, and a leash trailed behind.  
  
Not knowing what else to do, he bent over, picked up the leash, and started walking. The rabbit hopped along beside him amiably.  
  
He had not walked far, before the beautiful white buck bounded in front of him, and stopped beside him. The deer was huge, as large as a horse. It stood docile, as though waiting for Aragorn to mount up. So he did. The deer took off running through the flowers, the rabbit easily keeping pace beside him.  
  
The sun was shining brightly above, and cast shadows from the clouds on the violets. The deer began a playful game of trying to jump on each shadow. Aragorn laughed out loud as the he, the deer, and the rabbit bounded from shadow to shadow.  
  
He threw his head back, and yelled nonsense as the wind blew through his hair.  
  
The deer soon stopped at a particularly large shadow, and Aragorn slid off his back, giving him an affectionate pat on the neck. He released the leash, and the deer and rabbit took off together, disappearing quickly into the distance.  
  
The shadow around him grew darker and darker, until he saw nothing, felt nothing, and knew nothing but oblivion.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~  
  
"Estel? Estel wake up."  
  
Elladan stared worriedly at the prone form of the ranger. He should have woken up by now.  
  
"This is your fault Elladan", Elrohir piped up from the other side of their brother. "If you had taken time to find something better than rucin..."  
  
"Well, there wasn't anything better, besides, the Rangers use it often, it doesn't have the same effect on them it does on elves, you know that."  
  
"Yes, well, if Estel dies, I'm telling Ada it was all your fault. Then he'll kill you, not me."  
  
Elladan rolled his eyes.  
  
"He's not going to die, you worry like an old mother hen! Besides, you were the one who suggested we hunt in this area in the first place! Ada will kill you as well!"  
  
"How was I to know there were orcs in the area anyways?!" Elrohir gave his twin an injured look. "I'm not psychic like Ada."  
  
Elladan started to tell his twin what he thought of that, when a muffled groan reached their ears. They looked down to see Estel staring up at them with bleary eyes.  
  
"Ai, Elbereth, if you two don't shut up, you're both going to wish I HAD died."  
  
Elladan and Elrohir exchanged relieved looks.  
  
"You almost did, Estel." Elrohir fussed with the bandages covering the neatly cauterized wound one his younger brothers chest.  
  
"Yes." Elladan looked down at the campfire sadly. "I don't know what I would have done had we lost you, torornin." my brother  
  
Estel smiled softly as his older brothers surreptitiously wiped away tears.  
  
"I know what I would have done, torornin, I would have found myself at the end of the world, where Earth and Sky are one, and waited for you there."  
  
The twins smiled down at him, as he drifted off into a healing sleep.  
  
"Well, now all we need to do is decide what to tell Ada."  
  
Elladan and Elrohir exchanged slightly panicked looks at the thought of their father's wrath.  
  
"Worry about it tomorrow, and let me sleep." Estel muttered irritably from the ground.  
  
The twins smiled, and settled down to keep watch, while he slept.  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~ 


End file.
